Gosford Park

Tea at four. Dinner at eight. Murder at midnight. You get
the picture. Upstairs- downstairs interaction and genteel back-stabbing in this
Agatha Christie-like English country-house murder mystery. Not immediately
identifiable as Altman territory, but on closer acquaintance, Gosford Park is
full of his unmistakable trademarks: a large ensemble cast of excellent
character actors, skeletons in cupboards and dramatic revelations that cut through
cant and hypocrisy, packaged in delicious layers in biting irony and gentle
satire. Magnificently managed by in particular two grandes dames of English
theatre, Maggie Smith and Helen Mirren, both on top form.